Transporter Alberto Herrero saved Sainz’s Dakar. “I was sleeping in my tent when I woke up to the screams of ‘Get up! Run!’ and I didn’t have a clutch.”

It was 6:30 in the morning. Alberto Herrero (01/14/1974) He was fast asleep until something alerted him. “Alberto, Alberto! ”I’m listening. A cry of alarm. His eyes were unnaturally cloudy, and I could see that someone was moving the tent without stopping to wake him up. “Wake up, wake up! Run! Help me!”. was his friend lucas cruzco-pilot of Carlos Sainz.

Alberto Herrero race in a team truck TH-Truck. They do this by carrying tires and other parts. ford m sport,team Sainz and Romaproviding quick assistance on the track as a competitor. The veteran trucker has successfully pursued his passion. dakar He provided race support to a large team and will be participating in his 15th and 16th consecutive competition.

His best result in the truck category was 17th, and before starting this course he had hoped to run a “clean race” with the aim of finishing in the top 15. “We’re hoping we don’t have to intervene too much. That would be good news,” he said. But he had to be important to Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz. Without him, the Spanish duo would not have survived.

A mechanic and a truck carrying Ford parts crashed during the second stage. Therefore, Alberto was Sainz’s only option for the last marathon (stages 4 and 5). Upon reaching the evacuation bivouac, the pilots were unable to receive mechanical assistance from their teams, but Herrero, who was participating in the race, was able to do so.

Carlos Sainz It arrived with a problem with the clutch. and albertLucas’ friend was his man. The pilot and co-pilot tried to resolve the problem on the phone with Ford engineers until midnight, and appeared to be successful. “Everything was set up in the evening, the wheels were set up, everything was ready to go. So I asked him if he would like to come and test drive the car. And Carlos said, “No, no, that’s it.” And I said to them, “Okay, I’m going to sleep in a tent next to the truck.” If you need anything in the morning, don’t hesitate to ask. ”he recalled.

“I told them, ‘Go to sleep. When the other truck arrives, I’ll clean it up. I’ll put the wheels on it. Don’t worry. It’ll all be over.’. Alberto finished his work just after 3am. He went into the tent to rest. but “I woke up to an earthquake in the store.” “When Lucas woke me up, I didn’t even know where I was, but I noticed everything moving and screaming.” Clutch problems continued. The race against time has begun.

“I put on the best clothes I could and headed out. It was 6:30, 3:00 to 7:00. We had another 25 to 30 minutes before the car left the camp. “I have to bleed the clutch, but there’s no clutch.”Lucas told him. “We got under it, removed the flat tire and bled the clutch. Carlos arrived, took the lead and we were done.”. Everything went smoothly.

“It’s never impossible. You always have to try. Impossible is when there’s no solution. But as long as you have time, it’s possible.”I commented on whether I thought it couldn’t be fixed.

“But we were lucky that we went to purge and the air came directly out. We were up there, Lucas was pouring the liquid, and down below they were purging. Carlos was like, ‘The pressure is on! Now!’ I feel like we’ve been working together forever. But it was the first time we had done something like that. ”

They didn’t have the parts needed to repair the clutch, but worked together to find a single solution. “All I had to do was bleed the air and make sure it came out and ran. And it did. When the air came out after the first pump, I said, ‘Yes, there’s air in. If I can bleed this air out, the clutch will work.’.

“I purged it three, four, five times until there was no more air coming out, but there was already fluid coming out, so I told him, “Carlos, the liquid is coming out and we’re running out of time.” And he answered: ‘get on! get on! ‘So we installed a skid plate and it worked. Still he went on stage and had to start with the starter motor instead of stopping. I think the hands were more important than what we did. ”he expressed.

The only way to do that is Carlos Sainz When I went out on stage, I had to be prepared to use the clutch only once. Start the car with the starter and get to the starting line, where you just press the clutch once and it’s off. From that moment on, the plan depended solely on Carlos’s hands. If the vehicle stops in a difficult location such as a rocky area or uphill, the starter alone will not be enough to start the vehicle. To make matters worse, an engine alarm would go off in the middle of a special stage, potentially ruining all the work. But Carlos and Lucas reached the finish line. They saved Dakar.

“Carlos surprised me.”

“I was very nervous, but what surprised me was Carlos’ calmness. “Lucas told me that he was not calm at all when he came to the store, as was the case when he was with Carlos.” If Sainz wins this Dakar, a key part of the Touareg will belong to Alberto. If that’s the case, we couldn’t be more comfortable. We can always feel responsible and grateful for the trust they place in us.Because the fact that you are trusting us to provide your wheels for this marathon stage, your spare wheels for the entire Dakar, already means a lot to us. And I hope that Ford wins this Dakar,” concluded Alberto, the guardian angel of Sainz and Lucas.

“I’m obsessed with the Dakar.”

“This is my 16th Dakar and I’ve always done it on the track. I’m always trying to help the teams, or I can participate in the Dakar based on this help to these teams.”. My team of colleagues and I call everyone colleagues. All my mechanics are co-workers. We are a team and a big family,” Alberto said when asked by Doctors to introduce himself to his readers. “Like all of us here, I’m a Dakar fanatic.”,it’s over. Pure love for Dakar.